Reaching the UnreachedAn annual conference for churches trying to reach out in the hard places of our land

In Urban Harvest Roy Joslin highlights that those living in deprived areas often form their opinions on life based mainly on impression – what they see and experience. The middle-class on the other hand, often those who have been through higher education, shape their worldview primarily through reasoning. This has massive implications for us as Christians in these areas – what we do is as important as what we say.

I just wanted to provide a real life example of this, which forced me to start thinking more about how I speak about the gospel.

A mum who lived near us made a throwaway comment about smoking. She said she thought smoking when pregnant was fine. I asked her what she thought about the big label on her cigarette packet, “SMOKING WHEN PREGNANT HARMS YOUR BABY”. She replied that it was a load of rubbish. She then went on to explain that she had followed the doctor’s advice with her first child, and had stopped smoking. The pregnancy had been tough, and there were serious complications at the birth. So for her next pregnancy she took no notice of the warnings and happily puffed away through her nine months. This time the pregnancy, birth and baby were all fine. Her conclusion: the doctors are wrong, and smoking is fine.

I thought about how this lady had formed her opinion on the poison of smoking. And I realised most of what I was saying about the poison of sin and the remedy of the gospel was probably going over her head too! Not because I was using complicated reasoning, but because I wasn’t connecting with or countering her existing impressions of Christianity.

So how do we adjust for this difference in thinking? Joslin says mistaken opinions “can only be changed by… the influence of a contrary set of sense impressions”. Real life testimonies can have a massive effect here, particularly if they are from others who have grown up in the same area. But there is no quick substitute for simply doing as Jesus did, and being ‘a friend of sinners’. Only then will the radical difference of our Christ-centred, Spirit-empowered lives both connect with and counter those false impressions.

I preached my first town centre open air sermon in Bridgend yesterday, and I felt like when I was dared to dive off the three metre board at the local swimming pool when I was 11: absolutely terrified! But there was a great crew of friends out too praying hard, and picking up conversations with those who looked interested.

Anyway, the main point is, most people didn’t stop to listen, but there was a steady flow of people passing nonetheless. I reckon there was a one-minute envelope from when these people came within ‘firing’ range, to when they were out of earshot.

So the challenge is this: how do you best communicate the good news of Jesus in one minute?

I think you need to be:

• Ear-catching. It has to grab people’s attention whether by being vivid, or controversial, or even a bit odd! Jesus’ ear-catching parables, as well as hardening some hearts, also had the effect of opening others. As Spurgeon put it, like first tickling an oyster, so that you can then slip in the knife – the killer punchline!
• Direct. This can be no simple presentation of facts. The gospel call is not a lecture, it’s a lifeline thrown to the drowning person with a direct instruction to grab hold!
• Uncompromising. Paul preached in different cultures, cities and contexts. And while the manner and style of the presentation varied, the message of ‘Christ crucified’ (1 Cor 1:23) stood rock solid.

To give you some ideas, here’s what I preached today:

Anybody interested in knowing this Saturday’s lottery numbers? Course you are! Everyone wants to be rich right? You can be rich right now. Not rich with money – rich with something better. Jesus Christ was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. Jesus was loaded in heaven. But he swapped it for a hard life here, and shameful execution on a cross. Why? So that he might give you his riches in place of your guilt. Trust Jesus with your life – he will give you the riches of knowing God personally.

Phew! It’s hard to be brief! A couple of cheeky uses of dashes, and there we go: 100 words!

But I want your ideas! Post a comment below with your one-minute gospel and I will shamelessly use the best ones on the street! Soli Deo Gloria.

Door to door visitation is a great way to build strong relationships between the local church and local people. The goal is for the same person to visit the same people to win them for Christ’s sake.  We try to visit them every three months.  Often, those conversations are about the common things of life but we are building trust with people and forming a long term relationship.  As a result, we have many conversations about the Lord, people are invited (and come) to our Church, we strengthen our relationship with local people and build a strong network with the community around us.

Today, I am attending the funeral of a man that I met through door to door visitation.  I have a very good relationship with his family, some of whom I have also met through visitation to a different address.  Several people I have met in this way are now coming to St. James – and they are very much a part of our church community. Some are reading the Bible with me regularly. Many of the people I know might never meet a Christian otherwise.  Meeting them this way means they have the opportunity to hear the Gospel, be invited and respond.

What do you think about door to door visitation?  And what can make it easier or more difficult?

Where you get your information, knowledge and beliefs says a lot about who you are. Do your beliefs come from the Internet, your newspaper, your mum, your workmates? What you believe depends on your priorities.

So your worldview matters; but the way you apply and share your worldview matters as well. Knowledge can be shared – and if you happen to be in the circles where accurate knowledge is shared you will do well.

Many want people to benefit from knowledge and they will pass that on. But some will share knowledge only with people in their own circle.

We have the privilege of knowing the truth – because we have God’s word. How we use that knowledge will have a profound effect on those we choose to share it with and those we withhold it from.

We are called to “Go … and make disciples of all nations.” Our decisions about where we do or do not take that Gospel will have a profound effect on the information, knowledge and beliefs people around us acquire.

So, where should we place the boundaries for Gospel proclamation?